DODIK DEDICATES AWARD RECEIVED IN ISRAEL TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKA AND SERB PEOPLE

JERUSALEM, JANUARY 29 /SRNA/ – SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik states the award presented to him today in Israel is dedicated to Republika Srpska and the Serb people, and that he is returning to Srpska encouraged that the set goal can be achieved.

"It is an honour for me that here in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, I received a high award which I dedicate to Republika Srpska and our people," Dodik said during his visit to Israel.

Dodik emphasized that this award represents the pinnacle of everything achieved in Israel, recalling meetings with the president, prime minister, ministers, and parliament speaker to whom he conveyed the greetings of National Assembly speaker, along with a mutual wish for a visit to Banja Luka.

"All of this shows that we have developed a broad range of relations which will only be confirmed in the days and years to come. They will be based on the expansion of our cultural ties, economic and political cooperation," Dodik added.

He also stressed that he dedicates the award, and gratitude to all those who contributed to it, to Arie Livne, who he said from the very beginning spread love and friendship between Serbs and Jews, as well as to Moshe Levy, a hero of Israel, who never gave up on demonstrating friendship toward the Serb people.

According to him, this visit was also an opportunity to hear praise and understanding for the situation in Republika Srpska.

Dodik recalled that he had an exceptionally attentive interlocutor in Israel who listened to the Serb side, its views, and arguments.

"Where we were restrained for 30 years from speaking about how the Dayton Peace Agreement was dismantled, how many of our competencies were taken away, how we do not want BiH that is a colony, how we do not want Bosniak domination in BiH - wherever we said this in the West we were seen as ‘bad guys’, while here we were able to speak freely," Dodik told the press.

Dodik was today presented in the Knesset with the Jabotinsky for Freedom award for his contribution to the development of Israel - Republika Srpska relations and for his understanding of the Jewish people’s problems.

The Republika Srpska delegation also met today with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, and flags of Republika Srpska and Israel were displayed at the entrance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The flags of Srpska and Israel were also displayed in the meeting room.

Dodik stated that with the meeting with Sa’ar, the Republika Srpska delegation concludes its visit to Israel today and returns to Republika Srpska.

He emphasized that they are returning very happy, having had an extensive and comprehensive visit, which was a surprise even to him given that it was elevated to a high level.

"When you enter the prime minister's office and see only the flags of Republika Srpska and Israel there, your heart trembles, and you are encouraged to continue and to believe that the goal we set can be achieved," Dodik concluded.

Apart from Dodik, the Republika Srpska delegation in Israel consists of Acting President of Republika Srpska Ana Trišić-Babić and the Serb deputy in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Radovan Kovačević.